The Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival took place on Sunday, September 15 at LOT 613 in the downtown L.A. Arts District. This chef-driven, all-inclusive event showcased one of the world’s best-loved and most versatile dishes in a spacious industrial setting. Side dishes, craft beer, cocktails, sodas, desserts and a DJ set all helped to contribute to the festival. Better yet: My Friend’s Place receives a portion of proceeds. Please re-live the experience through this photo gallery. Thanks to all the talented, hard working people who helped make this event memorable. I hope to see you at the 2014 Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival!
Kajsa Alger and Susan Feniger represented STREET. [Matthew Kang]
STREET featured bacon waffle croquettes with spicy maple sauce. Food on a stick FTW. [Matthew Kang]
Feniger found a quiet moment before festivities started in full. [Matthew Kang]
LeFevre made Truffle Honey Laced Fried Chicken with Lime Cilantro Kohlrabi Slaw, a dish that’s on M.B. Post’s brunch and lunch menus. [Matthew Kang]
Roxana Jullapat & Daniel Mattern, the sweet and savory chefs from Cooks County, showed their enthusiasm for fried yardbird. [Matthew Kang]
The couple served Cooks County Fried Chicken Sandwich with Crunchy Cabbage Slaw. A larger version appears on their lunch menu. [Matthew Kang]
Jason Neroni calls Superba Snack Bar a pastaria, but he’s also got a handle on fried chicken. Pitfire Pizza co-founder Paul Hibler (left) is his partner on Superba concepts. [Matthew Kang]
Superba’s Fried Chicken featured red wine glaze, pickled chilies & Parmesan with a side of Kentucky style bacon slaw. [Matthew Kang]
Chef Bryant Ng and wife Kim Luu-Ng are behind Little Tokyo’s The Spice Table. [Matthew Kang]
Ng and The Spice Table made a new version of fried chicken just for the Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival: Prawn Paste Fried Chicken (Chinese honey mustard) with Spicy Baked Beans (palm sugar, Chinese bacon). [Matthew Kang]
Chris Oh, the chef and co-founder of Seoul Sausage Co., clearly enjoys his own cooking. [Matthew Kang]
Seoul Sausage presented their version of Da “KFC,” aka Korean Fried Chicken. Deep fried Korean spiced chicken wings joined with a pickled green mango and daikon slaw, kimchi pineapple cheddar cornbread and Sriracha honey butter. [Matthew Kang]
Matthew Poley is a co-founder of multifaceted Heirloom LA, a company that caters, runs a private event space and regularly rolls out a market-driven food truck. [Matthew Kang]
Heirloom LA offered Chicken Karaage with Crispy Cabbage Slaw, Fresh Plum Katsu Sauce, House-Made Sriracha, served with Tri-Colored Fingerling Potato Salad. [Matthew Kang]
Eduardo Ruiz is the chef and front man for Corazon y Miel, an exciting new pan Latin restaurant in Bell. [Matthew Kang]
Corazon y Miel doesn’t normally serve fried chicken, so Ruiz created Corazon Dry Rubbed Fried Chicken with Chorizo, Preserved Mushrooms, Barley, and Lemon Crème Fraîche. [Matthew Kang]
Ernesto Uchimura, the chef of Plan Check Bar, has become well known for fried chicken. [Matthew Kang]
Plan Check created a new version of their fried chicken. Spicy and Smokey Fried Chicken – Jalapeño Flavor accompanied sweet corn pudding, whipped buttermilk cheese, chicken cracklins, and green onion. [Matthew Kang]
Chef Ricardo Zarate and business partner Stephane Bombet have opened three restaurants together in L.A., and they’ve got more on the way. They promoted Paiche at the event. [Matthew Kang]
Zarate served Manchego-stuffed Fried Chicken Balls with aji amarillo coleslaw. [Matthew Kang]
A portion of Fried Chicken Festival proceeds benefit My Friend’s Place; a Hollywood-based charity dedicated to assisting and inspiring homeless youth to build self-sufficient lives. [Matthew Kang]
Uber has become a popular ride option in L.A. and beyond. The company offered festival guests a free ride valued at up to $20 for first time users. [Matthew Kang]
Damian Windsor, who just left The Roger Room’s lead bar post, represented Milagro Tequila. [Matthew Kang]
Windsor served Zapatos Nuevos (New Shoes), a cocktail that originated at San Francisco’s Tres Agaves that combined Milagro Tequila, Watermelon, Lime and Basil. [Matthew Kang]
I asked Matthew Biancaniello to create one cocktail for VIP, and he brought five drinks, including Green zebra heirloom tomato water with sparkling Rose; and Bergamot mint chocolate chip ice cream with extra añejo tequila. [Matthew Kang]
Biancaniello’s most talked about cocktail consisted of Jujube infused Hendricks gin, fresh Concord grape juice, foraged purple sage, ginger, agave and matsu apple juice with a Greek Italian fried chicken foot on top, seasoned with cinnamon and bay leaves. [Matthew Kang]
Biancaniello drew curious participants to his bar, including Stephane Bombet. [Matthew Kang]
Los Angeles Ale Works co-founders John Rockwell and Kip Barnes poured two craft sodas: Ginger Citrus Soda + Ketsara (Thai Tea Soda). [Matthew Kang]
Pure Water of Los Angeles furnished the Food GPS Fried Chicken Festival with an eco-friendly water solution, three stations total. [Matthew Kang]
McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, out of Santa Barbara, had the longest line at the festival thanks to warm weather and premium product. [Matthew Kang]
McConnell’s served three flavors: Dark Chocolate Paso Brittle, Salted Caramel Chip, and Santa Barbara Strawberry. [Matthew Kang]
Sharon Wang of Sugarbloom Bakery created individual miso butterscotch berry cobblers. [Matthew Kang]
DJ Bryan Davidson played a four-hour set that emanated across Lot 613. [Matthew Kang]
Blog Comments
Heirloom LA
September 18, 2013 at 5:33 PM
Such a great event, Food GPS! Everything was organized and lively and fun. So much delicious food and interesting people, great music. We had a blast!
Joshua Lurie
September 18, 2013 at 6:32 PM
Heirloom LA, it’s great to hear you had such a good time at the Fried Chicken Festival. Does this mean I can count you in for 2014?